Yorkshire parkin with salty toffee ice cream recipe

I love salt and caramel/toffee – it’s a wonderful combination. Make the parkin a few days in advance, if possible, and keep it in a biscuit tin.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

For the parkin
100g salted butter
110g dark soft brown sugar
175g treacle/molasses
225g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tsp ground ginger
½ a nutmeg, ground
¼ teaspoon finely crushed black pepper
125g coarse oatmeal#
50ml milk
50g chopped mixed peel

For the ice cream
500ml milk
500ml cream
1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped out
10 egg yolks
300g sugar
100ml water
1 tsp sea salt

Butter and line a 20cm cake tin with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 160C/320F/Gas 3. Beat the butter and sugar together, then add the treacle and beat some more. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda, then add the spices, oatmeal and milk. Beat until smooth, then mix in the mixed peel and spoon the mixture into the tin. Bake for an hour or until a skewer comes out clean.

Heat the milk and cream gently with the vanilla pod until almost boiling. Whisk the egg yolks with 100g of the sugar until smooth but not fluffy. Pour a ladle or two of the hot milk and cream mixture onto the eggs while whisking, then add the egg mixture into the pan with the remaining milk and cream. Cook the custard over a moderate heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until it has thickened up enough to coat the back of the spoon in a velvety way. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Put the remaining sugar and the water in a small pan and cook over a medium heat until it becomes caramel — dark, chestnut-coloured and slightly smoking. Pour into the warm custard (don’t worry, it won’t curdle), whisking as you do — be careful, as the caramel will be very hot. Add the salt and allow to cool, then churn in an ice cream machine or freeze in a container, stirring every half and hour for about three hours or until solid. Serve the parkin with the ice cream.